By Akira Toriyama
STAR WARS Episode 1 Whew! It feels like forever but finally, Star Wars is back!! To say nothing of the story, the atmosphere of the world and the designs are wonderful. I am one of those who have been bitten by the bug and I am bursting with excitement. It’s been a loooooooooooooong wait for the 4th movie. I’m really excited! Personally, I don’t have much interest in the people in this series, so Darth Vader appearing as a child doesn’t do much for me, (I’m only looking forward to Ewan McGregor). But watching the trailer, the mecha, robots, aliens and such, all have really great designs. The SFX also look considerably impressive. It’s going to be really fantastic! I can’t wait!
— On The Phantom Menace, 1999
Hello, this is Akira Toriyama. I’m terribly sorry that I can’t appear in person, because public exposure is NG (no good) for me. It was very easy to convince me to take on the job of character designer for Dragon Quest. “What the heck is a role-playing game?”, I thought. That was the sort of time it was.
Really, if I had known that it would still be going on after 30 years, I don’t think I would have taken the job! Honestly, if I had known how long it would last, I would have politely declined. I’m not good at doing the same thing over and over again. Designing characters for Dragon Quest is fun but difficult work. Nowadays, there are a lot of people working on the series, and all of the ones responsible for designing characters are good and serious people, so I don’t have to do as many designs. I’m personally not terribly interested in designing wholesome characters, so I don’t have many variations to offer.
Also, because the series is a fantasy, there is a certain established time period and setting that you can’t remove for your design work. Every time we return to that period, it gets harder and harder, and it becomes a situation where we have to use every trick in the book. To have such a highly specific design setting limits your artistic options, and since I like to create fanciful designs every once in a while, I created tons of designs that were rejected, back in the old days, but I got to paint countless small-fry monsters which is what I love to do do, and sometimes I get nostalgic for that.
But don’t worry. I’ve undertaken this work with the full principle of my being, and so this time with Dragon Quest XI, I’m also endeavoring to design with all of my might. It will be a little while still before it’s ready to be released into the world, But please look forward to it.
— On Dragon Quest XI, 2017
To be honest, I have never had much interest in anime, and even when my work was made into animated format, I feel embarrassed to admit that I did not watch much of it, apologies to the staff.
About 10 years ago, out of the blue, I was asked to revise the script for the Dragon Ball animated film, and I drew some simple designs for the characters and backgrounds. I thought, 'I can leave the difficult parts for the staff' (laughs).
Thus, it is truly embarrassing that I am the recipient of the Tokyo Anime Awards Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you very much.
One of my most unforgettable memories in animation works is when I met the late animator, Toyo Ashida for an anime project called Kosuke-sama Rikimaru-sama, which was produced for the Shonen Jump Original. This project did not have a manga, so a meeting was held. He was an amiable person and we quickly bonded, and every time I saw his drawing style, I was moved by his careful and swift touch.
I thought, 'Alright, I guess this kind of touch I need to speed up the drawing process and make Dragon Ball look much smoother.' The drawing time was reduced to about two-thirds of what it used to be. We influenced each other in many ways, and I think it was a truly fulfilling time. I pray for the repose of Ashida-san's soul.
Dragon Ball DAIMA, which will be rolled out in 2024, was originally planned to be an original anime series without me, but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting deeply involved with the project without realizing it. I was not only involved in the overall storyline, but also in the worldview, character design, mechas, and other aspects. I hope you will enjoy watching the series, which I believe is not only intense and action-packed, but also full of plenty of substance.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me so far! I am not sure how much more I can do, as I am not very confident about my health, probably due to my lifestyle when I was younger, but I will try my best to create more interesting pieces of work, so please continue to support me!
About 10 years ago, out of the blue, I was asked to revise the script for the Dragon Ball animated film, and I drew some simple designs for the characters and backgrounds. I thought, 'I can leave the difficult parts for the staff' (laughs).
Thus, it is truly embarrassing that I am the recipient of the Tokyo Anime Awards Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you very much.
One of my most unforgettable memories in animation works is when I met the late animator, Toyo Ashida for an anime project called Kosuke-sama Rikimaru-sama, which was produced for the Shonen Jump Original. This project did not have a manga, so a meeting was held. He was an amiable person and we quickly bonded, and every time I saw his drawing style, I was moved by his careful and swift touch.
I thought, 'Alright, I guess this kind of touch I need to speed up the drawing process and make Dragon Ball look much smoother.' The drawing time was reduced to about two-thirds of what it used to be. We influenced each other in many ways, and I think it was a truly fulfilling time. I pray for the repose of Ashida-san's soul.
Dragon Ball DAIMA, which will be rolled out in 2024, was originally planned to be an original anime series without me, but as I gave advice here and there, I ended up getting deeply involved with the project without realizing it. I was not only involved in the overall storyline, but also in the worldview, character design, mechas, and other aspects. I hope you will enjoy watching the series, which I believe is not only intense and action-packed, but also full of plenty of substance.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me so far! I am not sure how much more I can do, as I am not very confident about my health, probably due to my lifestyle when I was younger, but I will try my best to create more interesting pieces of work, so please continue to support me!
— His would-have-been acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2024.
About Akira Toriyama
Realism and signification oppose each other like water and oil, but is possible to use both at the same time. This is perhaps best typified by Akira Toriyama's artwork. His style is instantly recognizable, yet his robots and gadjets are drawn in intricate down to the smaller parts, and with skillful technique. His characters' punches and other fighting moves have a visceral sense of speed, but other elements of his drawings are symbolized to the point of being simplistic, often leaving plenty of white space.
If you want to understand how incredible Toriyama is, you need to look no further than his portrait art. Portraits are either rendered realistically or as caricature. Realistic drawings lose the artist's distinctive qualities, but when the artist's style is retained, the portrait no longer resembles the subject. Toriyama's portraits, on the other hand, resemble the subject while still remaining patently his - they are a fusion of oil and water. His mastery of his craft is incredible. Not every mangaka, or artist, is capable of such feat.
Simultainously utilizing realism and signification is an important aspect of manga art, and every manga popular today belong to this continuing movement best represented by Toriyama.
— Hirohiko Araki, Manga in theory and practice
Dragon Ball Children
- A collection of commentaries from multiple mangakas affiliated with Shonen Jump (and some who aren't), with many praising and thanking Toriyama for inspiring them.
What on Earth is gonna happen?
“Kuririn died!!” On a summer’s day I will never forget, at the minshuku my school club was staying at for its retreat, someone was shouting and running down the corridor. In that week’s Jump, Dragon Ball had met with a big development. For us, this was a bigger event than any real-life news. We would all confirm it in Jump, collapsing in shock, and reciting the words we’d grown used to saying every week: “What’s gonna happen next week?” Oh, man, what’s gonna happen? Seriously, what’s gonna happen?
Over the 11 years of Dragon Ball’s serialization, I wonder just how many times we said, “What’s gonna happen?”
There’s the saying “God only knows”, but in this case, frighteningly enough, the creator and God, Akira Toriyama-sensei himself, is said to have uttered these words: “What’s gonna happen?” Ah…! Writing by the Seat of Your Pants has gone too far.
However, regardless of the situation behind the scenes, the man named Akira Toriyama — no, Goku — would never betray our expectations. Every week, boys all over Japan would think together, “Where is this place?” when Goku went somewhere unknown, and we would howl, “They’ll pay for this!!” when Goku got angry. Birthed by the uniquely Japanese culture of weekly serialization, this is a shōnen manga for boys.
Dragon Ball is a masterpiece.
— Eiichiro Oda, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 1 (December 2002)
Yes! Yes! We said that! We said that!!
24, 25, 26, 27, 28… that’s the order of ages of the guys here where we make Naruto. The youngest assistant is 24, I’m the oldest fogey at 28, and we’re each one year apart. I’m always giving them directions like this: “Make the surface in the background of this panel like the ground on Planet Namek”. This gets it across to everyone. This is our common ground, something that greatly remains in our hearts… Dragon Ball.
The anticipation we once all shared in common, “What on Earth is gonna happen?” When I read the words Eiichirō Oda-sensei recounted in the first round of “Dragon Ball Children”, I involuntarily responded, “Yes! Yes! We said that! We said that!!”
All week long, everyone would wait eagerly for Dragon Ball, and it would always become a shared topic of discussion. From punk yankī to girls, and even up to the teachers, a wide range of people had Dragon Ball on their lips. Has there ever been something that’s become such a source of enjoyment to absolutely everyone, young and old, man and woman alike?! This explosive popularity was probably not just limited to our surroundings, but something that occurred everywhere.
With Dragon Ball having become such a shared joy for everyone, a certain “unspoken rule” came about. The fool who broke that rule would receive a punishment equivalent to getting a beating, or possibly even being ostracized from his friends. That “unspoken rule” was… “Those who read Dragon Ball in Jump first that week must not talk about its contents to those who have not yet read it!” In other words, the fool who steals everyone’s enjoyment must naturally receive a comparable punishment. Nevertheless, after reading it, you’d immediately want to talk about it so badly that you couldn’t help it. Even I broke that unspoken rule a number of times and ended up in a bad way, but Dragon Ball was something that people just looked forward to that much.
Recently, I’ve sometimes thought offhand, “Goku was like a magical being, who could attract people to him.” Now, when people hear the ring of “Son Goku”, the first thing that pops into everyone’s heads is no longer the Monkey King of Journey to the West, but this nigh-magical being, Son Goku from Dragon Ball, is it not?
— Masashi Kishimoto, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 2 (January 2003)
There is a me who can get lost in reading it, like a child.
Ah… Is this a dream? Now that I think about it, reading Toriyama-sensei’s work was what made me aspire to become a manga artist. I’m really happy now to be able to contribute to such a great master’s work. (It really does feel like a dream…)
I still haven’t matured fully, but in having the honor of doing a serial over in Jump, and making my name in the same field as Toriyama-sensei, I am made to realize even more strongly just how great a master he is. To me, he truly is a godlike being. No other manga has made my heart pound every week the way Dragon Ball did. There’s no way there could be.
My youth was spent going down to the convenience store first thing in the morning at the beginning of the week, getting Jump, and then heading to school.
Or rather, first I stood there and read Dragon Ball in the convenience store, and then I bought it! And, when I got to school, everyone in class was already fired up with Dragon Ball discussion. Naturally, I didn’t want to be left behind.
Death unto anyone who’d go and spoil me before I read it! If you found out what was in it beforehand, it was like at least half of that week’s enjoyment had been stolen from you. The boys of the class were always passing Jump around between them to read.
It always leaves off at a good point, that Dragon Ball… How many times did I howl, “Crap… What’s gonna happen after this…” when I finished reading…? Week after week, it would always make us kids’ hearts pound… what a cruel work it was.
Now, I have become very much an adult in age. Living a hectic daily life, I worry that I might forget that heart-pounding feeling. Then, I’m overcome by uncertainty: “Kids nowadays seem so busy with their video games, and their cram school, and their mobile phones; can they really read manga and get the same heart-pounding feeling we had back then, even now?”
Times like that, I read Dragon Ball over again. And again, and again…
Yep… it’ll be all right! Even now, there is a me who can get lost in reading Dragon Ball, which I’ve read hundreds of times, like a child.
Dragon Ball is an eternal masterpiece. That heart-pounding feeling will always remain with those of us who were once boys, never fading, no matter how many years go by.
— Shinya Suzuki, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 3 (February 2003)
Number One by a Long Shot.
To me, when I was a boy, Dragon Ball was, in all things, number one by a long shot.
If I could read Dragon Ball, it was number one by such a wide margin that I could hold off on any other entertainment.
When I was involved in a traffic accident in elementary school, I thought as I got hit by that car, “I can’t die until I read what happens next in Dragon Ball”. Although it was just a sprain. My number one attachment to life was Dragon Ball. It was the same in junior high, and in high school.
There are mountains of famous scenes in Dragon Ball. Among those, the one that gave me the greatest shock was when Nappa knocked Tenshinhan’s arm clean off. This scene gave me the greatest shock of all, by far. Vegeta was just standing back behind him mockingly, thinking that Nappa really wasn’t all that strong, so I tasted an incredible sense of despair. When I finished reading, I entered a Piccolo-type mood, thinking “Earth is doomed…”. The day I read that chapter of Dragon Ball, I was in such a state of shock that I couldn’t eat.
That was the time when I thought, “Hurry up and get here, next week! Seriously!” the most I ever have in my life.
Having become an adult in this way, looking back now, I realize that Dragon Ball took up 90% of me. If it weren’t for Dragon Ball, I believe my boyhood would definitely have been boring.
Thank you, Dragon Ball. And Toriyama-sensei.
The other day, I re-read Dragon Ball for the first time in a long while. “Ah, it’s still number one by a long shot,” I thought.
To me, Dragon Ball will forever be number one by a long shot.
— Yoshio Sawai, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 4 (March 2003)
To me, Shōnen Manga was Dragon Ball.
When I was a little kid, my parents practically never bought manga for me. (They wouldn’t let me watch anime on TV, either.)
In that situation, what little manga I had a chance to get my hands on was the Dragon Ball tankōbon my friends had. That’s not a metaphorical expression, or anything: the only shōnen manga I knew was Dragon Ball, and nothing else.
And so, re-reading it now that I’m a manga artist, I can truly appreciate “how lucky a thing it was that what little shōnen manga I got my hands on during my adolescence was this work”.
When I was about six years old, the shock when I first read it was huge. The first thing that struck me was the art’s beauty, its coolness, its cuteness, its detail… it’s hardly novel, but my first thought was, “Ah, I wanna be able to draw illustrations this well.” In the 18 years since then, right up to now, my feelings haven’t changed. I think it’s fair to say now that it’s true love. I’m crazy about it. I don’t know if it’s all right to say this, but even now, having made drawing pictures my life’s work, I have to admit that I haven’t taken one step away from the realm of blindly imitating Toriyama manga. I can’t help it. It’s my origin, and my ideal.
When I was in junior high, people around me would say, “your drawings look just like Dragon Ball,” so there was a period when I intentionally distanced myself from Toriyama works. After a while, when my art style became more exaggerated, and I thought I’d forgotten the Toriyama touch to a good extent, I finally started serialization, and the touch that had been labeled “an imitation of Toriyama” returned at once.
This is really nothing other than me laying myself low. But it’s also saying that I don’t care. It’s how I was made aware just how deeply Dragon Ball’s influence was etched into my roots. Probably, from here on out, I’ll continue my work, holding Toriyama-sensei’s illustrations as my ideal. And perhaps, there will always be someone, somewhere, who reads Dragon Ball and aspires to become a manga artist.
That’s because the power of this work, which changed my life, will definitely get through to every generation.
— Yusuke Murata, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 5 (April 2003)
I liked the villains.
“Which do you think is stronger: the Kamehameha, or the Dodonpa?”
“Which do you think is stronger: the Kamehameha, or the Dodonpa?”
This is my oldest memory of having a conversation about Dragon Ball. At the time, I was still in elementary school. On the way home from school, I was having a heated debate with my friends on this topic.
My opinion at the time was, “The Dodonpa is definitely stronger!” The brevity between setup and firing, and the forcefulness of the yell when firing, to say nothing of the fact that, in contrast to the Kamehameha, which is fired with both hands, it has that much power with just one finger. Really, I could only think that, no matter how you looked at it, the Dodonpa was stronger. And, the fact that he possessed chilling fearsomeness and presence enough to convince you — to make you think that he might actually kill Goku with the Dodonpa. The world’s greatest assassin, Tao Pai-pai.
To me, Dragon Ball is “a manga where the villains are incredibly cool”.
I don’t mean that I disliked the heroes’ side. I just liked the villains. Starting with the aforementioned Tao Pai-pai, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, Raditz, Vegeta, Nappa, Zarbon, Dodoria, Ginyu, Recoom, and of course, Freeza… Once you start writing the names, there’s no end. It’d be harder to find a villain that I dislike.
Pretty much all of them had a screwy aspect to their personalities, but that just made their strength and their fearsomeness stand out all the more (the biggest collection of such was probably Majin Boo). They were truly so cool that you’d get chills. And, precisely because the villains were so cool, when they were defeated, they would carry out their greatest role, which was to emphasize the heroes’ coolness. To this day, I’ve never experienced a shock from any battle comic surpassing the scene where Trunks first appears, and I surely never will.
A villain must be strong, fearsome, and cool. No exceptions. What drilled that into me was, without a doubt, Dragon Ball. Even now, whenever I open up Dragon Ball, I renew those feelings. And, whenever I turn the page, I get chills, just as much as I did back then.
— Tite Kubo, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 6 (May 2003)
Vegeta-Yabuki’s Pride
“Do you remember me?”
“Of course I remember you! You’re Vegeta-Yabuki!!”
That was a conversation in my third year of junior high, between me and an elementary-school friend I hadn’t heard from in a few years. During elementary school and junior high, I changed schools three times due to my parents’ work, from Okayama to Kōchi, from there to Kita-Kyūshū, and then back to Okayama. He was a friend from when I was in Kōchi, and for whatever reason, his strongest impression of me was apparently that I was good at drawing Vegeta.
Ever since I was in elementary school, if I had free time, I’d spend it doing nothing but drawing. And, the things I’d draw would always be Goku, or Vegeta, or Freeza… Characters from Dragon Ball, which I loved. Once I was able to draw characters off the top of my head to an extent, I’d then draw an original Tenka’ichi Budōkai manga, and make Goku fight against a character of my own design. And, the winner would always be Goku. Come to think of it, everything I learned about how to draw manga, from the expressive techniques, to dividing up the panels, I learned from Dragon Ball. If not for Dragon Ball, I might never have wanted to become a manga artist. More than anything, Dragon Ball taught me “the joy of drawing manga”.
Speaking of which, my debut in Jump wasn’t with my own manga, but with Dragon Ball. Around the end of my third year in junior high, there was a “Fusion Contest” promotion in Jump, where you had to create an original character by making any two characters from Dragon Ball do Fusion. I fused together my favorite characters at the time, teenage Gohan and teenage Trunks, to create a character called “Gohanks”; I drew an illustration and sent it in. Then, I got an award called the “Cool Prize” (heh), and it ran, relatively large, in the color pages of Jump. That experience really moved me.
It’s been about eight years since then, but even now, where I work, I still have a bunch of figures of Goku and company that I collected back then on display. When I get tired from drawing my own manga, I’ll draw things like Cell and Freeza in Toriyama-style in the margins of my notebook. Doing that, I feel strangely excited, and I get more energy. Nothing has changed since elementary school. I believe I’ll keep on drawing manga.
— 'Kentaro Yabuki, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 7 (June 2003)
The Reason for Its Unfading Appeal
The beautiful backgrounds. And, drawn in the middle of it, the boy so cute he would immediately grab your attention, Goku. When the colors of the first page of the first chapter reached my eyes, time stood still for me for a good long while.
From then on, I was captivated by this great adventure tale. This work, a treasure-trove of charms, was something I looked forward to so much each week that I could barely wait. Oolong, Kame-Sen’nin, Kuririn… whenever the band of companions grew, I’d get excited about what would happen next, and whenever a powerful foe like Vegeta, Freeza, or Cell appeared, I couldn’t wait for when Goku would defeat them. Even reading it again now, it hasn’t faded one bit; I feel the same as I did back then. Even while I’m reading it, I can hardly wait for the next scene.
To me, the appeal of Dragon Ball was its completely realized world, and the charming individuality of the characters. It was fun just looking at the scenery that appeared, and the cars, spaceships, and such. But I wasn’t satisfied with that, and thinking “It’d be nice if I could draw something like that,” I spent a lot of time copying them. Thinking back on it now, it may be that my feelings of wanting to draw, and my feelings that drawing was fun, began with Dragon Ball.
Then there’s the characters. Any character that appeared was so lovable and appealing that you couldn’t help but like them, and everything they did was interesting. Even enemies that normally ought to disgust you would have something likable about them, which was strange. Among them, I think the trio of Goku, Bulma, and Piccolo are my top 3 favorite characters out of any manga I know. Bulma, who was always cheerful and cute, is my image of the ultimate heroine, and Goku, who would never let you down no matter what, is the kind of main character I admire. And then there’s Piccolo, who as a villain, was stronger than anyone, and even after he became an ally, was more dependable than anybody. I still can’t forget my shock when he died throwing himself in the way to protect Gohan. I believe he will continue to be my number one favorite character from here on out.
What we call manga is an embodiment of the images within the creator’s head. What you can feel throughout the first half of Dragon Ball is just how great and abundant the images within Toriyama-sensei‘s head are. It’s boundless. I feel that all the more strongly, now that I’m in the position of drawing my own manga. And, on top of being abundant, it’s also consistent. I believe it’s precisely because of that, that even now, years after it concluded, rather than fading away, it actually feels extremely fresh and overflowing with appeal.
No matter when, and no matter what, it will always captivate me. Dragon Ball is that kind of work.
— 'Yasuhiro Kanō, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 8 (July 2003)
In the End, I Like It Because It’s Enjoyable
Dragon Ball was on the cover of the first Jump I ever bought. I started reading Jump quite late; I think it was when I was in my third year of junior high [ninth grade]. I had hardly read any manga at all, let alone Jump. When I was a kid, my hometown of Yokohama still had things like empty lots and groves of trees, so every day, I’d do things like playing soccer or baseball, going bug-catching, sticking a firecracker in poop and blowing it up, or reading through a discarded girlie magazine; I was a pretty outdoorsy kid. But as I grew up, condominiums went up in the places where I’d played, and the kids I’d played together with went on to different junior high schools; because of that, I stopped playing outside. At that time, on my way home from junior high, someone shouted from behind me: “Kuririn died—!!”
When I heard that, my thought was, “Who?!” But the guys around me were different. “Seriously?!!” “No way that could happen!!” “Let me see, too!!” The route home from school was in an uproar. Seeing the state of excitement in these people right before my eyes, I started to feel a bit embarrassed at not knowing who Kuririn was, so I said, “Ah, so it’s true,” taking an attitude as I though I’d known who Kuririn was for ages. That incident is how I got my start reading Jump.
I simply like it. It’s simply enjoyable. When I was a kid, why it was enjoyable hardly mattered, but if I think about it now, I suppose the reason I liked Dragon Ball was the poses, and the villains. Everybody imitated the Kamehameha. The Taiyō-Ken, the Kikōhō, the Kienzan, the Makankōsappō. Whichever one you chose, it was a simple pose that anyone could do. But in spite of that, it was cool, and if you struck that pose, you felt like you could do the technique, too, and you’d practice it. Well, I really can do a Kienzan, though. Hehehe.
Which brings me to my other reason: the villains. From Tao Pai-pai, to Tenshinhan, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Freeza, they’re not just bad, they’re evil. Detestable enemies. My heart would cry out, “Dammit, who does this guy think he is? Do something, Goku—!!!” The eviler the villain, the more irresistible the exhilaration when they’re defeated.
But, even as I write that, it’s just applying it after the fact. I like it because it’s enjoyable. In the end, I think that as a fan, my entire argument boils down to that one phrase.
From the perspective of a fan, it’s enjoyable; from the perspective of a manga artist, it’s enviable.
To me, Dragon Ball is that kind of manga.
— 'Mikio Ito, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 9 (August 2003)
Can’t Next Week Get Here Any Sooner?
When I was a boy, my little brother would always read Jump before I did.
Actually, it’s more accurate to say that I let him read it.
Naturally, I felt the need to read it first so badly that I’d resort to stealing, but even if I tried, I would always end up reading it afterwards. Right up until the morning of the next day (naturally, I was often late for school).
Why would it take so much time to read a single magazine, you ask?
It’s simple. It’s because Dragon Ball was just too enjoyable.
An hour or two would suffice to read Jump itself, but for this manga alone, that wasn’t enough. That’s because, every week, I would read it tens of times, savoring it (from corner to corner of every panel)
I remember getting such a shock from when Freeza changed into his final form that I considered staying home from school.
The design was that simple, cool, strong-looking, and capable of making you feel overwhelming fear. And, both when I was a kid and now that I’m drawing manga, I was in awe of the power of Toriyama-sensei, who could draw that so easily.
I wanted to know the next week’s developments so badly that I would turn the pages over and over again, sighing every time.
Back then——————— “Can’t next week’s Dragon Ball come out any sooner?” Someday, I want to draw a manga people will talk about like that. Dragon Ball didn’t just allow me to have a good time, it also, if just a little, allowed me to harbor big ambitions. Thank you, Dragon Ball!!
Oh, by the way, my favorite characters are Goku and Vegeta.
— 'Nakaba Suzuki, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 9 (September 2003)
Pure, Unadulterated “Toriyamania”
Having apparently conversed with my parents saying “Ki—n”, “N’cha!” and “Hoyo”, I just adored Toriyama-sensei since I was little.
As for Dragon Ball, I didn’t have the money to buy Jump every week when I was an elementary schooler, so I went to read Jump at an okonomiyaki shop in my neighborhood where you could eat for 100 yen.
My friends and I were so desperate, we would pool together a little bit of money at a time and order an okonomiyaki. Then we’d ignore the okonomiyaki and sink our teeth into Dragon Ball instead.
I liked Dragon Ball so excessively much that I’d cut out panels from my favorite pages of the volumes (looking back now, I did something unthinkable), paste them into my notebook, and work with the utmost diligence at writing commentary and such. (And gratis, to boot.)
Sitting seiza style in front of the TV five minutes before the anime started was the rule. I’d get [my parents] to buy me something called a “Koro-chan Pack” or other, and listen to it every week. “Grab hold of the romance”, “Lonely Wolf”; even now, I can sing them perfectly!!
The more I think back on it, the more I re-read it, the more [I realize] Dragon Ball is what got me started wanting to do shōnen manga.
I love Dragon Ball!
— 'Kenichi Sakura, Dragon Ball Information Pamphlet No. 10 (October 2003)
